A nutrition claim is any claim that states, suggests or implies that a food has beneficial nutritional properties due to the energy, nutrients or other substances that it either:
- contains or does not contain’ … or
- contains in an increased or reduced amount
‘Nutrient’ includes protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, sodium, vitamins and minerals.
Making any nutritional claim triggers the requirement to provide a full nutritional declaration, even if the product would normally be exempt from needing one (prepacked products only).
Full information on nutrition declarations can be found in ‘‘Labelling of prepacked foods: nutrition declaration’.
Only certain nutrients can be included in the nutrition declaration; if the substance to which the claim relates cannot be included in the nutrition declaration, the manufacturer must:
- make a nutrition declaration as normal
- state the amount per 100 g / 100 ml of the substance in the same field of vision as the nutrition declaration (same field of vision means that the product can be held so that both pieces of information can be seen at the same time)
Only certain nutritional claims can be made and there are conditions that must be met before they can be made; these usually specify how much of the substance must be provided. Full details can be found in guidance ‘‘Permitted nutrition claims’
